Sebelius told Gupta that President Barack Obama was unaware of
the problems with the site until a few days after its launch.
Customers have had trouble purchasing insurance through the
website since it went live on Oct. 1, due to numerous technical
issues and glitches.

The Obama administration has brought in outside experts in a
"tech surge" to help remedy the problem — including Jeff Zients,
the former acting head of the Office of Management and
Budget.

"Right now, we've asked all of our contractors to look at
their teams on the ground and bring in their absolute A team,"
Sebelius said. "And I am confident that that is happening every
day."

"Why didn't they bring their A team in in the first
place?" Gupta shot back.

"We have hoped that they had their A team on the table, but
I am talking to CEOs and urging them to make sure that we have
the talent that they have available," Sebelius said. "I think all
of them have folks who are assigned to a project."

Sebelius still put some of the blame on the volume of
people who are visiting the website. She also made a curious
statement that seemed to suggest that the Obama administration
doesn't view the website as the main tool for customers to
purchase insurance.

"I think that the reality is that people, as I just
said, can sign up any of three ways," she said.

"Does that mean the Web site’s not that important
then?" Gupta said.

"It is a – it is certainly a tool, and we think it can be
an easy tool for people who are tech-savvy and want to use a Web
site. And we’re determined that it be a lot easier than it is
right now," Sebelius said.

"What I know, though, is that lots of people, and people I talk
to everyday, are not tech-savvy. Want a live human being to sit
and answer questions. Want to talk to someone over the phone,
want to talk to their friends and neighbors about what health
care providers in their network, and then go back and ask them
questions.

"So, we anticipated at the outset that everyone would never use
the Web site. That needs to be part of the opportunity. The
market is at the end of the day what it is. This isn’t a Web
site. It’s about health care and about affordable plans."

Multiple Republicans have called for Sebelius' firing over
the horrid rollout of the website — the latest being Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). The
White House has continued to say it has confidence in Sebelius.
And she said Tuesday night that she has no plans to
resign.